FED:Carbon tax will convert Aussies

Independent MPs Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott believe Australians will soon begin to "wise up" to the fact a carbon tax is the best way of dealing with climate change.

The independents, whose votes were crucial in securing the passage of Labor's carbon price regime through the House of Representatives, were speaking moments before the Senate began debating the government's climate change bills.

Mr Windsor said Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had run a campaign of mythology which was reflected in a recent Newspoll showing public opposition to the carbon tax had jumped to 59 per cent.

"As people start to get their head around the real substance rather than the mythology, I think you'll see the polls go back to the higher end in terms of wanting to do something," he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

Mr Windsor said people would soon begin to realise "the sky isn't falling in" and already "people are starting to switch onto that".

"As the months go on the general populous will wise up to that and they will see this was the most effective way of dealing with the issue."

Mr Oakeshott conceded there was confusion within the community about the carbon tax, saying people believe he had voted for a new tax rather than the start of an emissions trading scheme.

The government had created a new market, and the market was responding.

Related Quotes

Company Profile

"One unnamed bank has already secured about 60 per cent of the permits that they want to sell to some of their top clients," Mr Oakeshott told reporters.

That equated to about 220 million tonnes of carbon that was ready to go as soon as the legislation passed parliament.

"So the market is ready to rip."

Mr Abbott's pledge to repeal the carbon tax should the coalition win government was creating nervousness and uncertainty, Mr Oakeshott said.

The independent MPs joined Australian Greens senator Christine Milne at the completion of a Say Yes Earth Relay at Parliament House in Canberra, where two giant inflatable globes passed through 40 communities across NSW and Victoria - from Melbourne to Ballarat and Sydney to Wagga Wagga.

Labor has set a timeline for passage of its carbon pricing legislation through the Senate, which is assured with the support of the Greens, by November 21.